Reducing/Handling Paper Clutter

[PoetryLover]

I thought I'd start a thread just for handling and reducing paper clutter. What strategies have you found to be most effective?

For instance, paperless billing is something I'm seriously considering doing. Also, I know there is a physical address/website where I can sign up to stop receiving junk mail (but I don't know what that is).

Please share your ways of reducing and handling paper clutter.

So many thanks!

[redvlagrl]

We do mostly paperless billing and our bills are on an autopay.

We have a note on our mailbox about no junk mail, though I am considering taking it off because I think I was to start reading the flyers (I've never done this before)

I find much of the addressed junk mail I get is from the same companies. i am sure you could contact them and tell them to stop sending.

Or open you mail and sort it then put the trash right in the recycling.

[Vancouver Mommy]

I got my dh to pack up his boxes and boxes of papers and take them into his office!

[Gray's Mommy]

As for junk mail, I open it right above the recycling bin before I bring it indoors. That seems to help a bit.

I also have a giant pile of paper that I need to go through today...thanks for reminding me

[theresa1]

I need help with this too. Stuff that goes right to recycling is easy, stuff for long term filing is easy (file it), it is the stuff that needs to sit around for a bit but not be forgotten about like:
bills
registration forms for activities
ywca schedules
invitations
tickets
coupons
stamps
mail to be answered
pictures end up in the pile somehow also
etc.
piles on the counter is not great, in a desk I will forget about it till dates have passed. In a folder I will forget about it also.
I am thinking about a bulletin board but don't want that to look a mess either.

[cappuccinosmom]

Well, I need my paper bills. I'd forget otherwise. I need that tactile memory.

So...

I have a finance basket and a file box. When bills and important papers come in, they go to the finance basket. I label them with the "deal with by" date. When the mail comes in, I stand by the trash can and sort it right there, so that very little actually gets farther than the entrance hall. The box is also used for registration forms, etc (although, I find it easier to fill them out immediately, as I'm more likely to forget if I let them sit for a week or two). Coupons get immediately cut out and stuck in my folder in my purse. Once I pay a bill, I immediately drop it into it's folder in my file box, and usually don't look at it again until December when I clear out the box.

Papers are not allowed to lie around. They either need to go in their specific place, or get thrown out.